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P R I C E ` 7 . 0 0 A L O N G W I T H M U M B A I M I R R O R O R T H E E C O N O M I C T I M E S O R M A H A R A S H T R A T I M E S *

Six software engineers fr-om Pune were killed wh-

en a speeding tanker crashedinto their minibus near Wa-gholi on the Pune-Ahmedna-gar highway on Sunday. Thegroup of 15 techies were retu-rning from Ahmednagar. P7

6 techies killedin Pune mishap

Describing President Pra-nab Mukherjee as a “fa-

ther figure” who helped himfind his feet in Delhi, an emo-tional PM lavished praise onMukherjee at an event for therelease of a book on the outgo-ing President on Sunday. P7

Pranab a fatherfigure: Modi

New Delhi: The governmentdoes not intend to use the “ha-mmer” immediately to pulldown prices, leaving it to mar-ket forces to guide companiesto pass on the benefits of go-ods and services tax (GST) toconsumers.

“Competition will force th-em to fall in line. You don’t ha-ve to use the hammer immedi-ately,” a high-ranking officertold TOI, adding that compa-nies and small businesses we-re themselves passing on thegains to consumers. Severalcar companies, consumer go-

ods manufacturers and whitegoods and mobile players ha-ve announced price changes,with many more expected tofollow once they resume busi-

ness and invoicing after upda-ting their software.

The statement comes amidfears that the government mayuse an anti-profiteering clause

against those who do not passon the benefits to consumers, orraise rates disproportionately.

Takes to SocialMedia To Bust‘Myths On GST’

Won’t use ‘hammer’, let marketforces bring down prices: Govt

Sidhartha@timesgroup.com

REVENUE SECY ADDRESSES DOUBTS ON TWITTER

Source: Tweets by revenue secy Hasmukh Adhia

1 Myth: All invoices need to be generated on computer only

Reality: They can be generated manually too

2 Internet needed all the time for business

Reality: It is needed only to file monthly return

3 I have a provisional ID but am awaiting final ID

to do businessReality: Provisional ID will be your final GSTIN number, start business

4 My item of trade was earlier exempt, so I will

need new registration before starting business nowReality: You can continue doing business and register within 30 days

5 There are three monthly returns to be filed

Reality: There is only one return with three parts, of which the first part is filed by dealer and the other two are auto-populated by

the computer

6 Even small dealers will have to file invoice-wise

details in the returnReality: Those in retail business (B2C) need to file only summary of total sales

7 New GST rate is higher compared to earlier VAT

Reality: It only appearshigher. Excise and other taxes, which were invisible earlier, are now subsumed in GST and so visible

New Delhi: The governmentis launching a multi-prongedoffensive against the one lakhcompanies that have been de-registered, including actionagainst those for violating ta-xation and money-launderinglaws as well as choking theiraccess to banking.

A day after Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s announcem-ent that the ministry of corpor-ate affairs (MCA) had struckoff names of these companies,sources told TOI that all direc-tors on the boards of these com-panies would be barred from si-milar positions on other corpo-rate boards for five years, whi-ch is in line with the provisionsof the Companies Act.

While the MCA has acted

want to prevent that, otherwi-se the whole purpose will bedefeated,” said a source, whodid not wish to be identified.

Similarly, the ministry iswriting to the Financial Intel-ligence Unit (FIU) to scan forany violation of provisions ofthe Prevention of Money La-undering Act.

against them for not filing re-turns, it is now going to appro-ach banks with the list of com-panies where action has beentaken to ensure that they areunable to operate their bankaccounts or access loans.

“In the past, we noticedthat some of the deregisteredcompanies continued to enjoyaccess to banking services dueto lack of information flow. We

1L deregistered companies face more actionSidhartha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: India has push-ed in more troops in a “non-combative mode” to strengt-hen its position in an area ne-ar Sikkim, where its soldiershave been locked in a stand-off with Chinese troops foralmost a month now in whathas been the longest such im-passe between the two armi-es since 1962.

India brought in more tro-ops after the destruction oftwo of its bunkers and “agg-ressive tactics” adopted bythe Chinese People’s Liberat-

ion Army (PLA), sources sa-id. In a “non-combative mo-de”, the nozzle of a gun is pla-ced downwards.

Giving details for the fir-st time about the events thatpreceded the face-off betwe-en the two armies, the sour-ces said the PLA on June 1as-

ked the Indian Army to re-move the two bunkers set upin 2012 at Lalten in Doka La,which falls in the vicinity ofChumbi Valley at the cornerof India-Bhutan-Tibet tri-ju-nction. AGENCIES

Sikkim row is now longestfaceoff with China since ’62

More IndianTroops After 2Bunkers Razed

Pakistan has once againturned down India’s re-

quest seeking consular ac-cess to Kulbhushan Jadhav,with its foreign office sayi-ng he is no ordinary prison-er and that India is attempt-ing to deny the fact that he isa spy, reports Omer Faro-oq Khan. The rejection co-mes after India and Pakis-tan exchanged lists of pris-oners in each other’s jailsunder the 2008 Agreementon Consular Access. P 7

Pak deniesIndia access toJadhav again

Mumbai: Despite the growi-ng restrictions on H-1B workvisas, fashion designer Shali-ni (name changed) is livingher American dream. The fa-bric print expert who hails fr-om Mumbai obtained an O-IBvisa (a non-immigration vi-sa) a few months ago. Else-where, a renowned instrum-ental musician, who is active-ly involved in a music schoolin the US, has obtained an im-migration visa (also knownas the green card) under the

EB-1A category.Shalini is among the gro-

wing tribe that is turning tothe O-IB category—which ne-ither has a cap on the numberof visas issued each year noris fettered by any protection-ist measures. Others, like the

musician, who wish to residepermanently in US are avail-ing of the EB-1A.

What do Shalini and themusician have in common?The answer is ‘distinction’ or‘extraordinary ability’, whi-ch needs to be proven to the

US authorities. As such visasare relatively challenging toobtain, immigration attorne-ys work closely with their cli-ents to help them build uptheir case.

Niche US visas for ‘extraordinary’individuals grow in popularity

Applicants MustProve Distinction

In Their FieldLubna.Kably@timesgroup.com

PARTICULARS O1 VISA EB-1A VISAEligibility for applicants

O-1A: Individuals with an extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics

Individuals with an extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics through sustained national or international acclaim (Nobel prize winners don’t require any further evidence)

O-1B: Individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in cinema or television

NATURE OF VISA NON-IMMIGRATION WORK VISA IMMIGRATION WORK VISA (GREEN CARD)

VISA TENURE Three years, with a one-year extension at a time for an indefinite period

Permanent residence and work eligibility in US (not citizenship)

TIME TAKENFOR ISSUE# 2-6 weeks 3 months to

a few years#As per immigration

experts

GO AMERICA: NO H-1B? GET O-1A OR O-1B

With the monsoon set-ting in, doctors are wit-

nessing a sharp increase inthe instances of H1N1clusterinfections in families. It hasraised serious concerns abo-ut whether people are follow-ing isolation protocols. P 3

Spurt in H1N1group infections

Mumbai: Hotel Ambassador’sSky Chef, a well-known land-mark located close to the inter-national terminal of the Mum-bai airport, has been served aneviction notice by the airportoperator as it plans to use theland for operational purposes.The Mumbai unit of Sky Chefhas been handling inflight di-ning contracts for a number ofairlines since the eighties.

“On May 20, the 30-year oldland lease agreement betwe-en the hotel and Airports Aut-hority of India (AAI), the landowner expired and the latterdecided not to renew the agre-ement,’’ said a source. Mum-bai International Airport PvtLtd (MIAL), the private com-pany appointed to run theMumbai airport, served thenotice as it plans to extend theoperations at the land-star-ved airport onto the 15,000 sqm plot leased out to the hotel.“It is located close to the air-port and so is a prime plot forextending airport operatio-

ns. It’s not yet finalised whatthe land would be used for,’’the source added.

In the last week of May, Na-rang International Hotels PvtLtd (NIHPL), the companythat owns Hotel Ambassador,moved the Bombay high courtseeking a stay on eviction pro-ceedings initiated by MIAL.

Landmark Sky Chefnear Sahar airport

gets eviction noticeManju.V@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: The state’s law andjudiciary department has st-rongly opposed housing mi-nister Prakash Mehta’s atte-mpt to change the law to helpregularise illegal occupantsof SRA buildings.

Last year, Mehta had tri-ed to stay the eviction of il-legal residents in SRA buil-dings until the completionof a survey, by giving an as-surance in the assembly.However, officials in boththe law and judiciary andhousing departments hadopposed it, saying it wouldviolate a court ruling.

In November, Mehta hadsuggested issuing an ordi-nance and amending the lawto allow for regularization.“Given the large number ofpeople affected, the governm-ent should issue an ordinan-ce allowing for regulariza-tion after a penalty,” he wroteto the housing department.

Law dept saysno to min’s bid to save illegalSRA tenants

Priyanka.Kakodkar@timesgroup.com

A 30-year-old man drown-ed in a swimming pool at

a Gorai bungalow where hehad gone on picnic with a gr-oup on Sunday. Kunal Lohiyawas found dead in the pool ar-ound 6pm. Police have filed acase of accidental death. P3

30-yr-old drownsin Gorai pool

�Requests denied, P 9

�Benami property law, P 10

�2nd hotel to get notice, P 5

�93k O-1 visas in 2016, P 5

New Delhi: Barely 40% ofthe country’s newly eligiblevoters in the 18-19 age groupare currently enrolled as vot-ers. In fact, in big states likeUttar Pradesh and Bihar, 75lakh and 46 lakh young peo-ple have turned 18 but are yetto enlist themselves as voters.

As per statistics compil-ed by the Election Commiss-ion as part of its special enr-olment drive focused on you-

ng voters, 3.36 crore peoplein the 18-19 age group in thecountry have not registeredthemselves in the voters’ li-st. The difference betweenelectors and projected popu-lation in the age group ismost prominent in states li-ke UP, Bihar, Maharashtraand Madhya Pradesh, evenas Kerala, Punjab and Andh-ra Pradesh and many smal-ler states are better off.

60% in 18-19 age groupnot enrolled as votersBharti.Jain@timesgroup.com

�LPG to cost up to ̀̀ 32more per cylinder, P 10

�Border checkposts gone,expect smoother ride, P 15

�Execs’ tickets: Cos mustgive airlines GST info, P 15

�‘Small firms eager’, P 10

FULL COVERAGE: P 2, 5, 10, 15

�UP has largest chunk, P 9

With a built-up area of 2.5 lakh sq ft, Ambassador Sky Chef produces over 30,000 inflight meals a day

30-year lease agreement between the hotel and AAI expired in May

MIAL now wants to use the 15,000 sq m space at Sahar for airport expansion

It is the second hotel after Leela Venture to get an eviction order

EXPANSION PLAN

�‘Don’t overreach’, P 5

China’s attempts to layclaim over areas south

of the India-China-Bhutantri-junction could worsen theimpasse, indicating a fresh bidby China to erode Bhutan’ssovereignty and cramp India’sstrategic space, reports

Sachin Parashar. P 9

Bid to limit India’sstrategic space

China’s official newsagency sent signals on

Sunday that the standoff wascaused, at least partly, byBeijing’s desperate need toforce an unwilling India toaccept its One Belt One Road(OBOR) programme, reports

Saibal Dasgupta. P 9

Standoff to pressIndia on OBOR?

Abu Dhabi-based Etihadon Sunday evening said

US-bound flyers can nowtake gadgets like laptops onboard its aircraft as the UShas “fully lifted” the March25 ban on electronic deviceson its flights from Abu Dha-bi to the country. P14

US lifts ban one-gadgets onEtihad flights

India beat Pakby 95 runs

Ekta Bisht took 5 wickets for 18runs as the Indian women’scricket team dismissed Pakistanfor 74 to record a thumping95-run win in the World Cup. Theteam now has an unbeaten 10-0record against Pakistan | P 17

THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 5TIMES CITY

Down Melody Lane

Hindi film songs of the golden era never stop tugging at your heart-

strings, say connoisseurs. The songs, which poignantly celebrate love and longing, separation and serenity, have remained unharmed by time, they point out. Concerts raising a toast to legendary composers such as Naushad, O P Nayyar, Shankar-Jaikishan, Roshanlal and the Burman duo (SD-RD) almost always draw packed hous-es in the city. The magical melodies of Lata-Asha, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Be-gum, Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mahmud, Manna Dey, Mukesh and Kishore Ku-mar leave the audience, which has a sprinkling of GenNow listeners too, asking for more. At a recent concert in the suburbs, a team comprising both greenhorns and seniors belted out Madan Mohan numbers for a full three hours. The songs were peppered with anecdotes from the life of the great composer. For instance, few know that way back in the 1940s Madan Mohan had recorded a duet with Lata Man-geshkar for a film which never saw the light of the day. Also, Raj Khosla, a close friend of Madan Mohan, was keen on setting out in filmdom as a playback singer. He got his first break as a crooner in Madansaab’s debut film, ‘Aankhein’. Khosla soon stopped dabbling in music, though, and instead turned to filmmaking, while Madan

Mohan, who was briefly interested in pursuing acting as a career, carved a niche for himself as a composer with great numbers as ‘Unko yeh shikayat hai ke hum kuchch nahin kahte’, ‘Bai-yyan naa dharo’, ‘Ek haseen sham ko dil mera kho gaya’, ‘Lag jaa gale’ and ‘Dil dhoondta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din’, to name a few.

A Parsi WeddingDadabhai Naoroji, the grand old man

of the country whose 100th death anniversary was commemorated the previous week, was also a professor of Gujarati at the University of London. On March 13, 1861, at the Liverpool Philomathic Society, the political and social leader presented a paper titled ‘The Manners and Customs of The Par-sees’. It gives a fascinating glimpse into Parsi life in Mumbai in the nineteenth century. Here, he describes a tradition-al Parsi wedding: “...the sister of the bride, under the pretext of washing the foot of the bridegroom with milk, steals away one of his shoes, and does not re-turn it till a rupee is presented to her. The bride and the bridegroom are after-wards made to partake of a sweet dish, the bride giving a morsel to the bride-groom, and the bridegroom giving it to her, each instructed beforehand to eat only a little, or not at all... the couple, by turn, is made to find out a ring con-cealed in the morsel by the other. They are also made to gamble a little, and by these several tests the comparative mer-its of each are ascertained, I dare say, to the great satisfaction of all, espe-cially of the ladies. The ceremony being over, the procession, with rows of lamps to light it, returns to the bridegroom’s

house. The bride, however, does not ac-company him then. Feasting follows...eight days after the day of the wedding another feast takes place. There are no tables and chairs. A long strip of cloth about 18 inches wide is spread upon the ground, and the guests take their places in a row on it. Each is then furnished with a piece of the plantain leaf, which he spreads before him; after each dish is served, a toast is raised from ‘Glory of God’ down to ‘Happiness to the Cou-ple’. As soon as one toast is drunk, a number of servants and friends of the host, with bottles in their hands, imme-diately apply themselves to replenish the emptied cups for the next toast...’’

Rain on a TrainWith rains finally here, weather-

men say they have begun to re-ceive umpteen calls from journalists seeking infomation on the season’s progress. Recently, a senior officer from the Indian Meteorological Depart-ment who was travelling by a local train got one such call. “The minute I began to tell the person when the next big rainfall is likely to hit Mumbai with technical details such as the wind speed and depression in the Arabian Sea, I got stunned looks from those seated in my compartment. They must have wondered who was I to predict the arrival of the season in the city with such authority. I, of course, immedi-ately lowered my voice and quickly ended the conversation,” said the of-ficer with a smile.

(Contributed by Ambarish Mishra, Nauzer Bharucha & Richa Pinto.

Compiled by Rucha Biju Chitrodia)

Sanjay Hadkar

BEST WAY: Students gear up to create public awareness about cash-strapped BEST through art work

Maharashtra has a strongpresence in the Unioncabinet, but there is on-

ly one secretary-rank officer inthe central bureaucracy.

Sanjeevani Kutty, a 1983-batch IAS officer, is one of thesecretaries in the Union homeministry headed by RajnathSingh. Maharashtra leaders-—Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prab-hu, Anant Gite, Prakash Jawde-kar, Piyush Goyal and HansrajAhir—hold key posts in Delhi.

Recently, when there was ahuge reshuffle in the bureau-cracy, it was expected that somesenior bureaucrats, who havebeen empanelled, will get an op-portunity to serve at the Centre,but it appears that they havemissed the bus. Some decadesago, veteran bureaucrats fromMaharashtra held posts of cabi-net secretary and headed thehome, finance, energy and foodproduction ministries. Whenthe NDA government redraftedthe norms for empanellment,many IAS officers were in the

zone of consideration, but onlyfour, including civic chief AjoyMehta and Aadhaar chief ex-ecutive officer Ajay BhushanPandey were empanelled for ap-pointment as secretary. A for-mer chief secretary said thatdue to lack of state bureaucratsin Delhi, Maharashtra does notbenefit in the decision-makingprocess.

Steel frame or steel cage?The head of the state level

task force for cultivators’ welfa-re Kishore Tiwari feared thatthe debt waiver may not succe-ed due to the “hostile approach”of bureaucrats. Tiwari saidfrom a cursory glance over thegovernment resolution, it appe-ared that many farmers havebeen excluded from the scheme.Tiwari said that at a juncturewhen the cabinet was in favourof the loan waiver, cooperationand finance departments’ bu-reaucrats inserted many condi-tions to defeat the purpose ofthe scheme. The CM declaredthat 36 lakh farmers will beco-me debt free, but the rider is thatthey will have to clear the inter-est and only then they will be eli-gible for a fresh loan.

Many farmers are not in aposition to pay interest as a re-sult, they will not be eligible forfresh credit. While a uniform lo-an waiver scheme has beendrafted for the entire state, thecondition of farmers in Vidarb-ha, Marathwada and Puntam-ba in Ahmednagar, from where

the agitation began, is different.

Disappearing actIt has more than six months

now, the ACB is yet to restore acrucial page on its website. Af-ter Praveen Dixit took over thereins from Sanjeev Dayal, hebrought about drastic changesin the ACB’s functioning. Dixitensured that cases in which per-sonnel had been trapped wereput up on the website on thesame day. One of the most im-portant information that wasavailable on the website was thepresent status of the open inqu-iry against public servants.

The disclosure included in-formation on the date on whichaproposal for open inquiry wassubmitted and the date onwhich the ACB was grantedpermission, the records inclu-ded specific case details. Thro-ugh the site, probes againstChhagan Bhujbal, Ajit Pawarand Sunil Tatkare became pub-lic. Now the webpage has beenremoved inexplicably.

No capital gains: Lack of Maha babusin Delhi hurting interests of state

Mumbai: The government-appointed Khatua committeewill recommend new fares forautos and taxis this month.

The panel is consideringincreasing the minimum dis-tance for fares to 2km, givingdiscounted fares for passeng-ers travelling long distancesor during peak hours(11am-4pm), and encouragingdigital payments for commu-ters, sources said.

Transport department so-urces said the recommenda-tions will ensure Kaali Peelitaxis and aggregator cabs likeOla, Uber have a “level-play-ing” field. An official said,“The panel will finalise mini-mum fares for all taxis/cabsand cap surge pricing in Mum-bai. It will ensure drivers earna decent income and end refu-sals for short trips. In some ci-ties, the minimum fare is for2km, which encourages dri-vers to accept short trips.”

The sources said the de-partment will consider disco-unted fares for long-distanceroutes. A telescopic fare

chart, where the amount de-creases as distance increases,had been suggested by somecommuter rights groups, in-cluding Mumbai Grahak Pan-chayat. “The panel is alsochecking the possibility ofHappy Hours travel in KaaliPeelis, that is discounted fa-res for non-peak (afternoon)hours,” said an official.

Many commuters had sug-gested fares hikes every threeyears, or only if service is good.

Drivers, in recent feedback tothe department, demandedhigher fares as they have notgot a hike for several months.

A senior official from thetransport commissioner officesaid, “We plan a win-win situa-tion, where interests of passeng-ers and drivers are served.” So-urces said the panel is lookingat digital payments, real-timetracking and providing fareestimates before trips for Kaa-li Peelis.

Longer trips by autos,cabs could get cheaper

There are 38,000 registered kaali-peeli taxis, of which22,000 actually ply on the road

There are 1.04 lakh autorickshaws plying in suburbs

The city has around 30,000 aggregator cabs, with an average daily ridership of 2.5 lakh

There are close to 5,000 fl eetcabs, such as Meru

Cabs and TabCab

PRESENT FARESNightcharge25%extra

Waiting charges`1.20 per minute (autos)`1.5 perminute(taxis)

A LOOK AT THE ON-ROAD FIGURES Minimum

auto fare`18Fare for subsequent km`12.19/km

Minimumtaxi fare |`22Fare for subsequent km`14.84/km

MinimumCoolCab fare`28Fare for subsequentkm`18.55 per km

Panel May HikeMin Distance For

Fares To 2KmSomit.Sen@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: The state industriesdepartment will form a com-mittee to study the impact ofgoods and services tax (GST)on industries in Maharashtra.

The current policy envisa-ges encouraging industrialiststo set up manufacturing plantsin the state. “The policy is ai-med at generating more reve-nue through various taxes. Ho-wever, as far as GST is concer-ned, the tax slabs are the sameacross the country, which maynot help a particular state to ga-in tax benefits from manufac-turing,” said an official fromthe department. “Thus, now itstime to make changes in the po-licy. We need to give incentivesto woo industries, like agro-products, gems and jewelleryor electronic items, that willmanufacture and sell productswithin the state, instead of sel-ling them in other part of thecountry, to generate revenue.”

Industry minister SubhashDesai told TOIthat the commit-tee will be headed by the de-partment secretary. “Duringthe VAT regime, we used to giveincentives to industries in theform of refund; GST has chang-ed the scenario. We have noclue about the impact. So, thedepartment secretary will stu-dy GST and submit a reportsuggesting changes in the poli-cy,” he said.

Panel to studyimpact of GSTon industries

Sujit.Mahamulkar@timesgroup.com

After the licence agree-ment between NIHPLand AAI expired, NIHPL

no longer has a right over theairport premises, but they argu-ed that the discussions betweenMIAL and NIHPL amounted tofurther extension of the licenceperiod in the absence of a regis-tered formal agreement,’’ saidthe source, adding that uponpreliminary hearing the courthasn’t granted any relief toNIHPL. The matter is expectedto come up on July 11.

The MIAL spokesperson re-fused to comment on the matter.

TOI wrote to the CEO of theAmbassador group requestingfor a comment, but received no response.

Ambassador’s Sky Cheflaunched its inflight cateringbusiness way back in 1942, butthe Mumbai unit was set up on-ly in the late eighties. Till then,inflight catering was handledfrom its hotel in South Mumbai.Around 1981, AAI had built anew terminal building in Saharto exclusively cater to interna-tional flights as the one in VileParle was saturated withgrowth in air traffic in the se-venties. In 1987, AAI leased15,000 sq m plot of land to

NIHPL and in the following ye-ars, the strategically locatednew unit of Sky Chef (it’s bare-ly a km from the internationalterminal and about 3km fromthe domestic terminal) grew tohandle catering contracts fromalarge number of domestic andinternational airlines. With abuilt-up area of 2,50,000 sq ft, theunit produces over 30,000 in-flight dining meals per day.

Sky Chef is now the secondestablishment located near theland-starved Mumbai airport toreceive an eviction order fromAAI. Early this year, the AAIserved an eviction notice to Ho-tel Leela Venture, after the lease

agreement, signed in 1986 forthe 18,000 sq m land on which itstands expired. The govern-ment organisation alleged thatthe hotel had violated the termsof agreement as it had defaul-ted on payment of dues to AAI.

After prolonged litigations,AAI board decided to terminatethe contract with Leela and no-tices were issued for payment ofpending dues and handlingover the possession of the pro-perty by October 31, 2016. Afterthe deadline elapsed, AAI issu-ed an eviction notice in Februa-ry, which was contested by thehotel, which moved the courtagainst AAI’s eviction notice.

Sky Chef second hotel near airport tobe issued eviction notice this year

�From P 1

Mumbai: Scores of pas-sengers were inconvenien-ced on Sunday as many long-distance trains towards Gu-jarat on Western Railwaywere delayed, regulated ordiverted due to heavy rain inthe Mehsana-Palanpur sec-tion since Saturday night.

Bandra Terminus andDadar stations saw hugecrowds as passengers wai-ted for trains rescheduledon Sunday.

WR chief public rela-tions officer Ravinder Bha-kar said, “Fifteen trains we-re stopped and detained onthe section as restorationwork was in progress. Theheavy rainfall resulted insoil cut and a major problemat four locations (level-cros-sings) en route. Staff sentfor restoration work also fa-ced difficulties due to conti-nuous and heavy rainfall inthe area.”

It had a cascading effectand trains leaving Mumbaion Sunday were delayed. So-me trains from Ahmedabadto Ajmer and Abu Road werecancelled. “The incessantrain was a big challenge forour staff to carry out resto-ration work,” said Bhakar.The affected sections were,however, cleared at the earli-est and services resumed.“We delivered breakfast,water and other essentialcommodities to passengersof stranded trains, especial-ly to passengers of 12915Ashram Exp and 14707 Bika-ner-Bandra (T) RanakpurExp,” he said.

It is learnt that morethan 1,000 food packets, 850biscuit packets and 500 pou-ches of drinking water weresupplied to the strandedpassengers. The trains re-gulated and diverted were12480 Bandra (T)-JodhpurExp (terminated at Mehsa-na); 14708 Bandra (T)-Bika-ner Ranakpur Exp (regula-ted at Ahmedabad); 19707Bandra (T)-Jaipur Aravali

Exp (diverted via Vadodara-Ratlam-Nagda); 19027 Band-ra (T)-Jammu Tawi (regula-ted at Mehsana and divertedvia Ahmedabad-Anand-Godhra); 12989 Dadar-Aj-mer (regulated at Sabarma-ti and diverted via Ahmed-

abad). The trains reschedu-led were 12216 Bandra (T)-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Gari-bRath Exp; 12480 Bandra(T)-Jodhpur Exp; 14708Bandra (T)-Bikaner Ranak-pur Exp; 12490 Dadar-Bika-ner Exp.

Long-distance trains toGuj hit due to heavy rainRailways Gives

Breakfast ToThose Stranded

Modak Sagar

69,978

LAKE LEVELS(Till Sunday 8.30am)Figures in million litres

Modak SagarS

69,97869,

UpperVaitarna

13,680

Tulsi

3,442

Bhatsa

2,23,297

Vihar

1,01,017Tansa

77,122

ALL DRENCHED: Late-night showers in Jogeshwari on Sunday

MiddleVaitarna

1,39,694

Somit.Sen@timesgroup.com

It is necessary to make a lawso that no action is takenagainst tenement dwellers

till the ordinance is issued,”says a note written by Mehtato the housing department.

According to the existingrules, tenements allotted un-der the SRA scheme cannot betransferred for a period of 10years. After that period, thepermission of the SRA is nee-ded before the transfer.

After Mehta’s stand, thehousing department propo-sed amending the Maharash-tra Slum Areas (Improve-ment Clearance and Redeve-lopment) Act 1971. It proposedthat the CEO of SRA be allo-wed to permit allottees to sellor lease their tenements befo-re the 10-year period. It alsoproposed that this amend-ment be allowed with retro-spective effect.

The state’s law and judici-ary department has given astrong rebuttal to the propo-sed amendment. “It also be-trays an attempt to overreachjudicial orders passed to achi-eve the object of the SlumAct,” says a noting from prin-cipal secretary (law and judi-ciary) N L Jamadar on theproposal. TOI has a copy ofthe document.

Other law department of-ficials also opposed theamendment. “The object ofthe Act is to make better pro-vision for the improvementand clearance of slum areasand for their redevelopment.Therefore it may not be legal-ly feasible to make such provi-sions as it may defeat theobjects of the Act,” says a notefrom the law and judiciary de-partment.

The department also op-posed allowing the amend-ment with retrospective ef-fect. It pointed out that afterHC orders in 2015, the statehad been directed to initiatecriminal proceedings againstunauthorized occupants ofSRA buildings.

Mehta was unavailablefor comment. Currently, a ca-binet sub-committee headedby him is examining the poli-cy on the sale and purchase ofSRA flats and unauthorizedoccupants of transit camps.

Attempt tooverreach

court orders:Law dept

�From P 1

Mumbai: The level of seven la-kes and reservoirs that supplywater to the city reached 5.37lakh million litres (ML) onSunday morning, which is aro-und 40% of the water the cityrequires for the entire year. Anofficial said catchment areaswere receiving satisfactory ra-infall and good rainfall was ex-pected in July.

The lakes/reservoir need14.37 lakh million litres by Sep-tember 30 to ensure that the ci-ty does not face any water cuttill the next monsoon. The cityconsumes 3,750 million litresevery day.

Parts of the city continuedto receive heavy showers onSunday. The suburbs receivedmore rainfall compared to theisland city. In the 24 hours en-ding Sunday morning

(8.30am), the Colaba and Santa-cruz weather stations received5.2mm and 49.2mm rain re-spectively. During the day(8.30am-8.30pm), the city expe-rienced only 1.2mm and 8.4mmrainfall in Colaba and Santa-cruz respectively. The weatherbureau has predicted fewspells or rain in the city andsuburbs over the next 48 hours.The season’s total rainfall atColaba (571.2mm) is 48.7mm be-low normal, while Santacruz’sseason total of 665.6mm is abo-ve normal by 66.91mm.

There were 77 tree fallingincidents in the city from Sa-turday morning till 8.30am onSunday. There were also somecases of wall collapse and shortcircuit on Sunday but no onesustained injuries, civic offici-als said. TNN

City lakes get 40% ofyear’s water supply

Statistics given by the USDepartment of Home-land Security (DHS)

show that allotment of O-1 vi-sas (O1-A and O1-B) hasgrown significantly over theyears, from just 31,969 in 2006to 93,086 a decade later. Awa-reness of this category isslowly building up in Indiaand experts say their popula-rity will soon shoot up.

Such visas issued to Indi-ans numbered 1,137 in 2015. Asimilar break-up for EB-1A isnot available.

“For O-1A, it is important todemonstrate ‘extraordinaryability’, it is a high legal stan-dard requiring evidence thatthe individual has risen to thetop in his or her field. Awards(internationally recognized orlesser awards such as those onnational level), publications,recognition in the media, pa-tents, trademarks, academiccontributions et all help sub-stantiate it,” explains David HNachman, managing attorney,NPZ law group.

“O-IB’s requirement is‘distinction’—it is compara-tively a less rigorous legalstandard. It can be shown byrecognition in media oramong peers in the field. Boththe O category visa applica-tions call for at least 10 peerreference letters. Often, weensure that half the lettersare from India and the restfrom other countries—thishelps demonstrate interna-tional recognition,” he says.

Nachman adds that O-IB is re-ferred to as the artists’ visa.“We help our clients under-stand how to ‘package’ theevidence for review by theDHS officials, as we did inShalini’s case. Arts includesnot just performing arts, butalso covers graphic desig-ners, fashion designers, etc.”

As a fabric print expert,Shalini conceptualises trends-—colour trends and prints forthe coming fashion seasons. Ar-med with an MBA in interna-tional luxury brand manage-

ment from a business school inParis, plus prior years of workexperience in the New York fas-hion industry (under an H-1Bvisa), she seemed the right can-didate to apply for O-1B. Her net-work was willing to give her so-me great recommendatory refe-rence letters.

Shalini explains the processbehind her success: “I handedmy portfolio in a wooden box,not just with my portfolio book,but actual swatches of fabrics

that I had designed. The appli-cation also required that mywork had to be published in no-table publications—I was luckyto have been featured in a pro-minent fashion magazine. I alsomade my website and archivedall my work.”

Green card for excellen-ce: Turning to green cards, un-der the EB-1A category, Rajiv SKhanna, managing attorney atImmigration.com, says “Manyof these cases are relatively ea-sy to establish. The US govern-ment has listed ten categories of

evidentiary requirements, outof which we need to meet three.To illustrate, it could be eviden-ce of international or nationalawards, published material inrecognised periodicals, or com-mercial success in performingarts. In addition, the law alsopermits us to provide evidencebeyond these categories, if nee-ded. The quickest we have obtai-ned a green card for a client wasin three months.”

Khanna’s most challeng-ing case was that of a renow-ned instrumental musician-—the green card took two ye-ars. In the first attempt the ca-se was denied, as was thesubsequent appeal. In thethird try, when the case was fi-led again, it sailed through.

“The difficulty is alwaysin providing evidence that isacceptable to the official as-signed to the case. Finally, af-ter a long struggle in provi-ding more and more details assought for, what won the dayfor us was that our client hadbeen nominated for a majorinternational award,” expla-ins Khanna.

O-1 visas grew by 200% in 10 yrs�From P 1

Uma Kadam

Mahesh Benkar

LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM